Visual Culture: Body and Image

KOVN14

Study period: autumn 2017Type of studies: full time, dayStudy period: 2017-10-30 – 2018-01-14Language of instruction: EnglishEligibility: 90 credits from first cycle including Bachelor's essay in one of the subjects history of art and visual studies, filmvetenskap, musicology, design studies, architecture, visual view of mankind or the equivalent knowledge

Description

The course covers issues related to the human body and its status in modern and contemporary society, with particular regard to the display, representation, exposure, and invisibilisation of the body in different societal, cultural and artistic contexts. The modern and contemporary problematics of the body, and of how it is pictured and imagined, are studied with consideration of their continuities and discontinuities with the visual cultures of pre-modern periods.

The course examines the visual cultures of the body from three perspectives:

The connections between visualisation and knowledge, control and power, including the economisation, politicisation and juridification of the body in the context of bioscience, bioeconomy, and biopolitics.

The relation between embodiment, individuality and subjectivity, including issues of identity, self-(mis)recognition and performativity in relation to ethnicity and race, gender, age, disability, etc.

Theoretical and philosophical understandings of human corporeality and its existential conditions and implications, including the complex relations between visuality and materiality.

International student?

Application period October–January for autumn semester and June–August for spring semester.

First or Second Admission Round?

All international students are encouraged to apply to the First admission round. This round takes place many months before the start of a semester and gives students the time they need to pay their tuition fees, apply for and receive their residence permit (if required), find housing, etc.

The Second admission round is an alternative for students from EU/EEA countries as they do not need a residence permit. Non-EU/EEA students will most likely not have enough time to obtain their permit before the start of the semester. However, even EU/EEA students are advised to apply during the First admission round, as some programmes can be applied for only in the January round. Also, this provides applicants with an admission decision much earlier, which is helpful in making decisions about their studies.